14 DAY TRIAL // My faith in the young generation was partially restored today, after I found a top listing Thomas Edison as winning the title of “greatest American innovator of all time,” with 52 percent of the votes. Then my faith level dropped considerably when I saw Steve Jobs listed as the runner-up, with 24 percent of votes.
The poll was conducted among young Americans through the annual Lemelson-MIT Invention Index. About 1,010 young adults, aged 16 to 25, cast their votes for this poll. They considered the practical light bulb, the phonograph, and the movie camera more important than the iPhone, iPod and iPad.
As a non-American, I can't but point out that I'm gonna let these youngsters finish, but Nikola Tesla was a greater inventor than Edison. His knowledge of electricity and what it can do, as well as his inventions, are the most widely-underrated innovations in history.
The American poll also included Alexander Bell (10 percent), Marie Curie (5 percent), Mark Zuckerberg (really? top innovator of all time? For Facebook? Pfff), flight pioneer Amelia Earhart (3 percent) and Temple Grandin (2 percent), Innovation News Daily reports.